Badoca Safari Park

At Badoca Safari Park, in the plains of Santiago do Cacém, the animals roam free: giraffes, zebras, antelopes and wildebeest move through the cork-oak woodlands and the open fields of the Alentejo as if the savannah had crossed the ocean. The visit is made through the great enclosures, between the animals, in one of the most open and spacious parks of Portugal.

The park

Badoca opened at the end of the 1990s, in the cork country of the Alentejo coast, and was conceived as a safari park: the animals live in wide areas of the estate, and the visit calls at the different environments of the park — from the African savannah to the wetlands and the woodlands of the region. The park works on environmental education and on the conservation of the species it keeps, receiving schools and families through the year.

What to see

• The free-roaming animals of the savannah areas.
• The cork-oak woodlands and the birds of the Alentejo.
• The wetlands and the native environments of the park.
• The environmental education programmes of the park.

Visiting

The park lies near Santiago do Cacém, on the Alentejo coast, around an hour and a half by road from Lisbon; the visits follow the circuits of the park, on foot and in the safari vehicles, and the times and tickets are published by the park. A full visit takes half a day, and combines well with the beaches and the cork country of the coast of the Alentejo.

Nearby

Le Costa Vicentina and the castle town of Sines complete a journey along the coast of the south-west.

Information: badoca.com.

Image credit: Fallow deer at Badoca Safari Park, by tiago186703274, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.